Homemade Granola

Homemade cereal is something I with that I made more often. Little D loves to eat it for breakfast, aslmost daily. Big D enjoys granola, and cereal the odd time (especially if it has chocolate in it!!). Both of them enjoyed this granola. Here's the recipe, as I made it last week. Next time I will likely alter it, and probably the time after, too. I'll use what I have on hand and what I'm in the mood for that day. Remember the words of Michael Smith - "A recipe is merely words on paper; a guidline; a starting point...". Enjoy!

Homemade Granola

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 4 cups kamut flakes
• 1 cup wheat germ (if you buy toasted wheat germ, I'd cut this in half or more...)
• 1 cup oat bran
• 1 cup coconut flakes
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 3/4 veggie oil (or coconut oil if you have it)
• 1/2 cup honey (**or less)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup (**or less)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (**or less)
• **Play with the honey/syrup/sugar ratio to get your personal desired sweetness**
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
• Various dried fruit

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a very large bowl (or your biggest pot) stir together top 9 ingredients. Set aside...
2. In a small saucepan over med-high heat, stir together oil, honey, syrup, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Pour syrup mixture over oat and nut mixture and gently stir until evenly coated and combined.
4. Spread 1/4 of the mixture on a large cookie sheet, in an even layer. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, gently stirring/tossing every 5 minutes. I put the oven on convection and used 2 cookie trays. If you only have one, repeat this step for the remaining 3/4 of the mixture. Remove from oven once it's evenly browned (but not too dark!).
5. Allow to cool on plates or another flat surface. Once completely cool, store in an airtight container or bag. When serving, mix in dried fruit of your choice. Very tasty served with vanilla yogurt! Enjoy!